Table 1 Comparative yields of alternative search strategies

#1

QI Text Words, Simple A

1 quality AND improv* AND intervention*

(PubMed)

13,572

#2

QI Text Words, Simple B

(quality and improv$ and intervention$).mp

(MEDLINE, Ovid)

12,892

#3

QI Text Words, Synonyms A

1 quality

2 improv* OR enhance*

3 intervention* OR initiative* OR strategy* OR program*

4 1 AND 2 AND 3

(PubMed)

35,925

#4

QI Text Words, Synonyms B

1 quality OR system OR process

2 improv* OR enhance*

3 intervention* OR initiative* OR strategy* OR program*

4 1 AND 2 AND 3

(PubMed)

63,593

#5

MeSH terms

1 quality of health care.sh.

2 quality assurance, health care.sh.

3 quality indicators, health care.sh.

4 health plan implementation.sh.

5 1 OR 2 OR 3 OR 4

(MEDLINE, Ovid)

81,733

#6

QI Text Words, Synonyms + MeSH Terms

1 ((quality ADJ3 improv$) or (quality ADJ3 enhanc$)).mp.

2 (quality of health care or quality assurance, health care or quality indicators, health care or health plan implementation).sh.

3 1 AND 2

(MEDLINE, Ovid)

7,750

#7

Intervention Components

1 Intervention components (education, information campaign, academic detailing, workshop, training, audit, feedback, dissemination, provider reminders, computerized medical records, fee for service, financial incentives, managed care, discharge planning, guideline implementation, guideline adherence, quality assurance, or program evaluation)

2 study design filter (randomized controlled trial, controlled clinical trial, intervention study, comparative study, experiment, time series, pre-post test)

3 1 AND 2

(MEDLINE, Ovid)

216,167

#8

QI Text Words, Synonyms + Intervention Components

1 Quality OR (improv* OR enhance*) OR (intervention* OR initiative* OR strategy* OR program*)

2 Intervention component search strategy (education, information campaign, academic detailing, workshop, training, audit, feedback, dissemination, provider reminders, computerized medical records, fee for service, financial incentives, managed care, discharge planning, guideline implementation, guideline adherence, quality assurance, or program evaluation) AND design filter

3 1 AND 2

(MEDLINE, Ovid)

10,895

#9

CQI Text Words

1 pdsa.ti, ab. OR plan-do-study-act.mp. OR plan do study act.mp. OR pdca.ti, ab. OR plan-do-check-act.mp. OR plan do check act.mp. OR define-measure-analyze-improve-control.mp. OR dmaic.ti, ab. OR dmadv.ti, ab. OR define-measure-analyze-design-verify.mp.

2 ((iterative ADJ cycle) OR (rapid ADJ cycle) OR (small ADJ test ADJ2 change)).mp.

3 deming.ti, ab. OR taguchi.ti, ab. OR kansei.ti, ab. Or (six-sigma or (six ADJ sigma)).mp. OR total quality management.ti, ab. Or ((quality ADJ function adj deployment) OR (house ADJ2 quality) OR (quality ADJ circle) OR kaizen.ti, ab. OR (toyota adj production ADJ system).mp. OR (toyota ADJ a3).mp.

4 (breakthrough ADJ series)).mp. ((institute adj2 healthcare ADJ improvement) OR (iso ADJ "9004") OR (iso ADJ 15594*)).mp. OR (IHI OR (Institute ADJ Healthcare adj Improvement)).mp.

5 ((lean ADJ manufacturing) OR (lean ADJ production) OR (lean ADJ healthcare) OR (lean ADJ health adj care) OR (lean ADJ health ADJ service) OR (lean ADJ healthcare ADJ service) OR (lean ADJ health ADJ care ADJ service)).mp. OR ((inventive ADJ problem ADJ solving) OR (inventive ADJ problem-solving) OR (inventive ADJ problemsolving)).mp. OR ((business ADJ process ADJ reengineering) OR (business ADJ process ADJ re-engineering)).mp. OR (system* adj redesign).mp.

6 1 OR 2 OR 3 OR 4 OR 5

(MEDLINE, Ovid)

2,221

#10

Combined Approach

1 (quality ADJ3 improv$).ab, ti. OR (quality ADJ3 enhance$).ab, ti.

2 (quality of health care OR quality assurance, health care OR quality indicators, health care OR health plan implementation).sh.

3 1 OR 2

4 Intervention component search strategy (education, academic detailing, workshop, training, audit, feedback, dissemination, provider reminders, computerized medical records, fee for service, financial incentives, managed care, discharge planning, guideline implementation, guideline adherence, or program evaluation) AND design filter

5 3 AND 4

(MEDLINE, Ovid)

16,535